demitone

/ˈdɛmɪtəʊn/

Etymology

From demi- + tone.

demitone means A semitone. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 91 out of 100.

demitone is pronounced /ˈdɛmɪtəʊn/.

noun

A semitone.“Before X-ray we used to talk glibly, and sometimes I suspect without justification, of differences of demitones and half demitones in percussion of the chest and slight enlargements of the heart.”
A tiny amount; a shade of difference; a gradation; a nuance.“I would speak to you, I have seen this opulence banishing by shades, by demitones!”
A muted tone; a subdued manner of speaking.“Some gutteral sounds, uttered in a curiously resonant demitone, were exchanged between the guardians of the rural community and the shikaree.”
A color that is only partly saturated.“Dr. van Monckhoven, of Ghent, displays several remarkable enlargements printed in carbon, all distinguished by delicacy of demitone; and Mr. Edward Viles heads the scientific list with microscopi enlargments to the extent of two hundred diameters.”
Something that is necessary to produce harmony and completeness.“The middle class is the. demitone of human society, custodian of the balance, and no fair social order could exist without the cooperation of this class.”